The Barisan National was truly whacked by the voters in the recent

March general elections.

Now, barely seven months later, various Barisan National politicians

are making constant noises. Many of them are trying to portray a new
angelic image whle the remainder want to talk about idealism.

If the Barisan National politicians truly want to be seen as angels,

or as champions of the man in the street ( or sometimes, the selected
man of the same skin colour ) or as the messengers of a new idealism,
they could well do to pay heed to some urgent real life issues.

1) The fight against crime must be taken to a new unprecedented level.

In recent years, especially the last two, ATM robberies, goldsmith
shop robberies, cash transit van robberies and similar other heists
have become so common in the country. These cases have made the
public think that the authorities are impotent in protecting the
lives and properties of law-abiding citizens.

2) The Barisan National politicians must be aware that idealism must

include the political will to stop the mudslinging especially that
hurled against opposition figures via the broadcast media and the
printed media. These mouthpieces which belong to the BN camp, often
use religious, racial and personal issues to make their targets
look bad or even to demonise them. A few of them have even been
physically threatened.

3) The BN federal government also must realise that they need to stop
championing causes along religious lines. Many cases of a religious
nature have recently been highlighted in the media and incidentally,
individual BN politicians were seen to be their guiding lights. It
is high time such cases are dealt with by a single central authority.

4) The police force must be revamped. This includes the need to place
it on the same standing as that of the ACA, which means the IGP has
to answer only to the parliament select committee, not the PM. Also,
the police need to connect closer to the public; the local police
station or the local police chief should put up their own URLs on
the web to enable the public to post relevant complaints, news or
photos to them. Many housing estates are troubled by hooligans and
would-be criminals prowling the roads and lanes on motorbikes late
at night.

5) The Barisan National politicians must be serious in tackling the

foreign worker issue. There are too many foreign workers in the
country right now, and they are taking away job opportunites that
by right should be given to our young school-leavers. Instead,
these people, now used to an easy lifestyle, often get themselves
involved in shady economic activities such as organised gambling,
DVD-peddling, drug production and distribution, vice-rings and
wayside snatchthefts.
Why can't the government realise that they need to encourage or
even prod these young people to take up jobs normally given to
foreign ( legal and illegal ) workers and at the same time take
up evening classes to learn some new skills that are not taught
in normal secondary schools ?

6) The government MUST do away with the so-called National Service

programme. It is nothing more than a propaganda exercise for the
ruling BN coalition. If something is good, you don't need to involve
or use the element of compulsion. There is no need to criminalise
the average law-abiding citizen. The country's prisons are already
very overfilled. There is no need to jampack them further. Use the
money instead to reward hardworking young adults and refer to them
as role models and at the same time stop identifying the young role
models by their ethnic origin. The observant person is only too
aware of the past favourite practices of the BN politicians.